Jérôme Poitou  

CEIBS (China Europe International Business School)

“An attorney who calls both Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean and New York home.“

Hometown: I am from Pointe-à-Pitre, a town in Guadeloupe, a French overseas department located in the Caribbean.

Fun Fact About Yourself:  I grew up on the island of Guadeloupe, whose population is less than that of the smallest district of Shanghai.

Undergraduate School and Major: 

University Pantheon, Assas Paris II – Business Law

Cornell Law School – Law

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Teigland Hunt LLP – Managing Associate

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I advised the largest hedge fund start-up to ever launch in the US on securities and derivatives trading regulatory matters. The fund successfully launched with $8.4 billion USD in assets under management. As a result of my contribution to a team effort, I was promoted to the level of managing associate shortly thereafter.

What is the biggest appeal of earning an MBA in China? The world is clearly shifting east and China’s influence on the global scene is increasingly more prevalent. I want to take an active part in that trend and, as such, I intend to explore professional opportunities in Asia, or involving Asia, post-graduation. What really motivated my application was the fact that, as opposed to looking for opportunities on my own, earning an MBA in China – the leading Asian economy – provides not only a soft landing in China but also offers a credible gateway to Asia’s corporate world.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why? After a few months, I realized that this CEIBS cohort is in many ways diverse, but we all have one thing in common: we are all “challenge-seekers”. Whether it is the more mature MBA student who, like myself, seeks to reinvent himself, the career switcher, the international who is looking for a cultural challenge, the young mother who juggles student and family life, or the “haigui” who is returning to a new Chinese reality, we are all challenging ourselves.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the MBA curriculum or activities that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? CEIBS managed to strike the right balance between leveraging its Chinese heritage and going global. This is that ability to cleverly and meaningfully convey as much as possible of its China expertise in a way that benefits both its Chinese and its international MBA students. This is what led me to choose CEIBS’ MBA program. That ability manifests itself in many ways. The selection of cases reviewed in class, the choice of the China-focused modules, and the Integrated China Strategy Project (ICSP) are various ways in which MBA students are able to not only study and understand problems that are specific to the domestic Chinese economy, but also better appreciate China’s contribution to the world. In a sense, the CEIBS MBA program is a reflection of Shanghai itself, a city that has kept its identity as a Chinese economic and cultural center while opening itself to western influences.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I only applied to CEIBS.

What do you see yourself doing ten years from now?  I have many short- to medium-term goals. In ten years from now, I see myself in a position that allows me to play an active role in initiatives that are aimed at strengthening China’s co-operation with the Caribbean islands.